The 4,546-square-kilometre (1,755 sq mi) district, encompassing about 60% of the county's area is located northeast of Stavanger and east of Haugesund.

To the east, Ryfylke borders the districts of Setesdal and Sirdal, to the south is Jæren, and to the west is Haugalandet.

The landscape of Ryfylke is characterized by high mountains in the interior; the highest and wildest are located in the north and are formed by hard, igneous rock.

[1] At Haukalivatnet Lake (near Lysefjorden), there is a distinct end moraine presumably created by a prehistoric glacier.

This moraine led professor Jens Esmark (in 1824) to formulate the theory of an ice age over Scandinavia and other parts of the world.